About Heidi

Dandelions bright and cheery on a summer morn, the babbling crooked brook in the forest behind her childhood house, the lonely crumbling chimney standing reslient in the field, a first true love, grief and loss, the wonderment of a passionate life. Since Heidi was a little girl, she adored life, drinking from a hose in the summer, sledding down hills in the winter, exploring puddles covered with ice in the spring, jumping in a pile of crisp earthy leaves in autumn. The deepest emotions that tug at the heart are what inspires Heidi's poetry, a passionate life.    

Heidi was born in Portland, Maine and spent her childhood in the coastal town of Falmouth. Most of her childhood was spent outdoors, in the fields and on the beaches exploring nature with her sister and friends. Summers were spent at the family cottage on Sebago lake where Heidi learned to swim and canoe as a young girl. Going blueberry picking, making mud pies, taking long walks, sunbathing on the dock were the orders of the day.

Heidi's first recorded poem is dated 1976, when after her parents divorce, she moved to Massachusetts with her mom and sister and became a blended family of six living on Lake Massapoag. The divorce and move to Mass. shortly thereafter, in the middle of sixth grade, proved extremely difficult for Heidi. She missed her father terribly and her friends and the beautiful state of Maine. The anxiety she had begun experiencing in fourth grade escalated, however, some of the pain she endured inspired her poetry. She would climb up a tree to a small wooden platform overlooking the lake where she would sit and write down her thoughts and feelings. Heidi's mother eventually made her a scrapbook to keep her poetry in. In each corner on the cover of the red scrapbook, her mother placed a felt graphic that represented each of the four seasons which Heidi so dearly loved. Heidi also loved rainbows and had rainbow wallpaper in her bedroom, a rainbow mug, and drew a rainbow with her initials on every page of her poetry scrapbook. Rainbows are joyful and an enduring sign of hope.

Throughout her life, Heidi has kept a postive attitude, and the first page in her childhood poetry scrapbook is entitled "May the sun always shine...". Heidi definitely has Sisu, which is a unique Finnish concept meaning strength of will, determination, and perseverance in the face of adversity. Heidi is a third generation Finn. Her great grandmother, Mary Hamalainen (called Mummu by family) immigrated to the United States in 1904 at age 8, her family settling in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Mary had to learn English and completed school up to 8th grade. She began penning her memoir in 1955 and in her second to last entry in 1971 at age 75, she said "it's been a great life," however she lived to age 102. Mummu was a gifted writer and artist of oil paintings.

Heidi wrote poetry all through middle school and high school and continued her education at the University of Lowell, Massachusetts and then transfered to begin her sophomore year at the University of Southern Maine where she received a Bachelor of Arts in English. Heidi was inspired by professor Dr. Kathleen Ashley who named her the head of the English Students Association which Heidi had created to help students enroll in classes in an order that would best benefit their education as English majors. After college, Heidi pursued a career in public relations for several decades where much of her work entailed writing for technology and biotech companies. 

Heidi is thrilled to be embarking on a project to digitize over four decades of poetry (1976 to present day) in addition to writing her first book. She lives on the rocky coast of Maine where the vastness of ocean and it's rhythmic waves supply her with endless hope and inspiration. View her professional bio here and stay connected with Heidi on Twitter and Instagram.